Silvio Berlusconi: will the Italian prime minister's resilience see him through once again?

He has compared himself to Napoleon, Superman and Jesus, but the question on
Italians' lips is whether Silvio Berlusconi can once again display a
Houdini-like ability to wriggle out of the latest crisis he finds himself
engulfed in.

If one theme links Mr Berlusconi's three terms in office as Italy's prime minister, it is his resilience and extraordinary ability to survive scandals – both political and sexual – that in any other Western democracy would force his resignation or even impeachment.

The former cruise ship singer burst onto the political scene in the early 1990s, having amassed a fortune in construction, publishing and television.

He promised a Thatcherite revolution, but most analysts say there is scant evidence that he has pushed through the kinds of reforms that Italy's calcified bureaucracy, judiciary and economy so desperately need.

Critics say he only entered politics in order to protect himself from prosecution from a string of corruption allegations, which he has always denied.

He has pushed through a series of controversial packages to protect himself from prosecution, constantly railing against the alleged bias of Italy's "left-wing" courts.

He continues to be dogged by claims of impropriety in business, and still faces two corruption trials, one of which involves allegations that he paid a massive bribe to his British former tax adviser, David Mills, the estranged husband of former Cabinet minister Tessa Jowell.

His frequent gaffes and sexist quips have earned him a reputation as the joker in the pack on the international stage. The list is a long one.

He praised Mussolini as a benevolent dictator who sent his political enemies "on holiday", compared a German MEP to a concentration camp guard, described Barack Obama, the US President, as "sun-tanned" and called himself "the Jesus Christ of politics."

Last year, after a huge earthquake devastated the mountain city of L'Aquila in central Italy, he cheerily told tens of thousands of homeless people living in tents that they should treat the experience "like a weekend of camping." But it is the sex scandals that have earned him the greatest notoriety abroad, following revelations last year that he entertained dozens of young women at his private residences, allegedly paying some of them for sex.

Italians are much more forgiving of Mr Berlusconi's apparently rampant libido than voters in the US or Britain would be, taking the view that his dalliances with models and starlets are either an inevitable perk of wealth and power, or irrelevant to his ability to govern.

"The women have got younger as he has got older. It's a way of projecting an image of youthful vigour," said Prof Stephen Gundle, an expert on Italian politics and culture at Warwick University.

"In that respect he is part of a long Italian tradition that reaches back to Mussolini and Garibaldi. It won't bring him down because Italians either see it as praiseworthy, or at least understandable." As he faces one of the biggest political battles of his career, only his most vociferous critics are willing to predict his demise. And even they must privately have their doubts.